By: Robert Driggers
The Colleton County Cougars opened region play when they hosted the James Island Trojans last Friday night. The Cougars were hoping to start the region with a win- however, James Island scored early and defeated the Cougars 49-0 with quality offensive play.
James Island unleashed a balanced offense, scoring on the ground and through the air.
Due to injuries at key positions, the Cougars had to implement a new power-run oriented rushing offense in two days thanks to the game being moved to Wednesday night because of hurricane Ian.
The Trojans scored on their first possession following a Cougar punt from their own 43-yard line. They needed just three plays to cover the 57 yards, and got a 4-yard touchdown run to make the score 7-0 with 8:45 left in the first quarter.
The Trojans recorded a safety on the Cougar’s next possession when they recovered a bad snap on a punt attempt in the end zone, which made the score 9-0.
Following the kick-off, the Trojans needed one play to score on a 52-yard pass touchdown with 5:48 left in the 1st quarter. This brought the score to16-0. Following a Cougar fumble, the Trojans scored on an 11-yard touchdown run to make the score 22-0.
The Trojans added a 6-yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds left in the half to make the score 29-0 at half-time.
James Island added 2 more touchdowns in the second half on 2 touchdown runs to make the final score 49-0.
James Island finished the night with 325 total yards of offense while the Cougars were held to 150 yards of offense,
The Cougars were led by Darien Stephens with 68 yards rushing on 7 attempts, while Antwone McWilliams added 58 rushing yards on 14 attempts.
The Cougars travel to Hilton Head in search of their first region win Friday night. Kick-off is 7:30.
